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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Just last month, researchers published a new research paper in the Journal of Cereal Science (tagline:
“Cereal Science for Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainability”) all
about how genetic engineering could save the millions of people
suffering daily from gluten intolerance.

Gluten-free foods have now become a $4 billion dollar industry. More
and more people are realizing every day that they aren’t as sick as they
thought they were — that a reaction to the gluten from wheat found in
thousands of products on their grocery store shelves is actually
damaging the lining of their intestine, rendering them unable to absorb
nutrients properly, which manifests all sorts of horrible health issues.
Gluten intolerance and celiac disease can actually present as over 200
different symptoms. For example, did you know that gluten sensitivities can show up as:

Due to gluten’s ability to render a sensitive person unable to
properly absorb their nutrients, it’s also been tagged for a multitude
of reproductive issues and cancer which is on the rise.

While organizations such as one in 133
have sprung up around this issue, figures show that at least 18 million
Americans are sensitive to gluten (meaning they experience negative
health symptoms when they eat it) and another 3 million suffer from
full-blown Celiac’s Disease, which is an extreme form of gluten
sensitivity that can be deadly (although all of it can ultimately be
deadly). Those numbers are conservative at the very best, however,
considering a) they are from 2011 and b) it’s a fact that some people
don’t show any hardcore symptoms at all… totally leading them to believe
they suffer from something other than gluten intolerance and the
resultant nutrient deficiency that follows.

“Here, we propose that glyphosate, the active ingredient
in the herbicide, Roundup®, is the most important causal factor in this
epidemic.

“Fish exposed to glyphosate develop digestive problems that are
reminiscent of celiac disease. Celiac disease is associated with
imbalances in gut bacteria that can be fully explained by the known
effects of glyphosate on gut bacteria.

“Characteristics of celiac disease point to impairment in many
cytochrome P450 enzymes, which are involved with detoxifying
environmental toxins, activating vitamin D3, catabolizing vitamin A, and
maintaining bile acid production and sulfate supplies to the gut.
“Glyphosate is known to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzymes. Deficiencies in
iron, cobalt, molybdenum, copper, and other rare metals associated with
celiac disease can be attributed to glyphosate’s strong ability to
chelate these elements…

“Glyphosate residues in wheat and other crops are likely increasing
recently due to the growing practice of crop desiccation [drying] just
prior to the harvest. We argue that the practice of “ripening” sugar
cane with glyphosate may explain the recent surge in kidney failure
among agricultural workers in Central America. We conclude with a plea
to governments to reconsider policies regarding the safety of glyphosate
residues in foods.” (source)

Monsanto also began producing genetically modified glyphosate tolerant sorghum in the last decade, which is used in many of the gluten-free foods that make up that $4 billion gluten-free food market and which Monsanto mentions on its website “is an excellent substitute for wheat for those who cannot tolerate gluten.”

So what now? Gluten sensitivities are spreading throughout
modern society like cancer, and glyphosate is everywhere these days.
We’re using more glyphosate now than at any other time since it was
invented, and that figure is not set to lessen any time soon with the
continued proliferation of Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant crops all
over the world.

Well, the “answer” the scientific community has come up with is…you guessed it…more GMO.

One of the key components of the research paper first mentioned above is the creation of a transgenic approach:

Their report acknowledges that creating strains of wheat
with reduced gluten toxicity is difficult using conventional breeding
methods, and that genetic modification, in particular a technology
called RNA interference (RNAi), hold the greatest promise in reducing or
‘silencing’ the gluten proteins in wheat and other cereals. Such
technology allows researchers to develop gluten-free wheat strains by
adjusting the gluten fractions toxic to those with celiac disease. They
acknowledge that their efforts could face resistance fueled by global
concerns around genetically modified foods. They also note that current
and prior genetic modification efforts have not produced products with
tangible benefits to the consumer. Rather, the main beneficiaries of
such efforts have been large companies and/or farmers. (source)

So you see, we need genetic modification to save us from the
burgeoning gluten intolerance issue! Well, who better to save us than
global genetic modification giant Monsanto who is already in the process of testing a genetically modified strain of wheat as we speak?

Indeed, Monsanto has actually spent the better part of a
decade-and-a-half researching GMO wheat. The company began field testing
a variety starting in 1998, but suspended operations in 2005 after
determining that a super-wheat strain wasn’t quite ready to be launched.

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